Reiman and Leighton’s book, The Rich Get Richer And the Poor Get Prison explores a theory that the American criminal justice system is set up in such a way that it is very detrimental to the lower class. The typical reaction to a theory like this is to assume that it is a conspiracy, but Reiman and Leighton make sure to include a section on why this is real, and not a tinfoil hat conspiracy. Their reasoning is that while the criminal justice system is failing to significantly cut down crime, the results of that failure are positive to the upper class, who are the only people that could fix the failure (Reiman and Leighton 5-7).
Additionally, Reiman and Leighton outline what a real conspiracy theory would be like, and the outcome is quite …show more content…
The first failure is people in government from local to national not putting laws in place that could actually stop crime. This results in a large amount of crime, rather obviously. However, there are big differences in the types of crimes, and how average Americans view them, which leads to the second failure, which is that middle and lower class Americans don’t see white-collar crime as harmful (Reiman and Leighton 173). White-collar crime was a term first used by Edwin Sutherland, and involves some combination of deceit, concealment or violation of trust to gain more money or property, or to keep from losing these things (Conley 214). What this does is makes the crime that is committed by the lower class seen as the major danger to American safety, when really, it is much more likely that a stock broker could rob someone of all their money than a traditional burglar. The third failure, Reiman and Leighton say, is failure to eliminate economic bias is the criminal justice system, which results in lower class people are the ones that get convicted (Reiman and Leighton …show more content…
What ends up happening is that lower income neighborhoods are far more heavily policed than middle or upper class neighborhoods, and the people that live in these low income areas are scrutinized much more than others. Because of this, far more people in lower income areas will eventually be arrested, giving them criminal records, which can hurt their chances of getting a legal occupation, and then they end up with no option other than crime (Conley 186).
This is an example of Robert Merton’s strain theory, because lower class people with criminal records can’t achieve the goals society has set, they will become deviant (Conley 201). Many middle and upper class Americans believe that if someone isn’t happy with their economic situation, they should just work hard and achieve it, but as Victor Rios discusses, it isn’t that easy for the lower class (Conley 186). In the case of a person that becomes deviant, that offends what Emile Durkheim called the “collective conscience” or the generally accepted morals of society (Conley
Additionally, Reiman and Leighton outline what a real conspiracy theory would be like, and the outcome is quite …show more content…
The first failure is people in government from local to national not putting laws in place that could actually stop crime. This results in a large amount of crime, rather obviously. However, there are big differences in the types of crimes, and how average Americans view them, which leads to the second failure, which is that middle and lower class Americans don’t see white-collar crime as harmful (Reiman and Leighton 173). White-collar crime was a term first used by Edwin Sutherland, and involves some combination of deceit, concealment or violation of trust to gain more money or property, or to keep from losing these things (Conley 214). What this does is makes the crime that is committed by the lower class seen as the major danger to American safety, when really, it is much more likely that a stock broker could rob someone of all their money than a traditional burglar. The third failure, Reiman and Leighton say, is failure to eliminate economic bias is the criminal justice system, which results in lower class people are the ones that get convicted (Reiman and Leighton …show more content…
What ends up happening is that lower income neighborhoods are far more heavily policed than middle or upper class neighborhoods, and the people that live in these low income areas are scrutinized much more than others. Because of this, far more people in lower income areas will eventually be arrested, giving them criminal records, which can hurt their chances of getting a legal occupation, and then they end up with no option other than crime (Conley 186).
This is an example of Robert Merton’s strain theory, because lower class people with criminal records can’t achieve the goals society has set, they will become deviant (Conley 201). Many middle and upper class Americans believe that if someone isn’t happy with their economic situation, they should just work hard and achieve it, but as Victor Rios discusses, it isn’t that easy for the lower class (Conley 186). In the case of a person that becomes deviant, that offends what Emile Durkheim called the “collective conscience” or the generally accepted morals of society (Conley